One of the original celebrants of the Tridentine Mass at St. Josaphat Church passed away on Friday, July 15. Msgr. George Browne [no relation to Msgr. Ron Browne] celebrated the first Mass there on October 3, 2004 and returned regularly until his health began to decline. He came from a family of religious: One sister was a nun, and his brother, Fr. Joseph Browne, CSC just happened to be chaplain of a Latin Mass Community in Portland, Oregon. Msgr. Browne invited his brother to celebrate a Mass at St. Josaphat several years ago. A highlight of Msgr. Browne’s involvement with our local Latin Mass scene was when he celebrated the first Tridentine Mass to be held in modern times at Royal Oak’s National Shrine of the Little Flower [pictured] in 2009, an event which set an all-time record for attendance at a local Latin Mass, with approximately 650 worshippers present.

Another pioneer of our local Latin Mass scene passed to his eternal reward on Saturday, July 9: Ted Amberg was the longtime co-chair of the Flint, Michigan Tridentine Mass Community. A German immigrant and owner of a manufacturing company that served the cutlery industry, Ted played a key role in running southeastern Michigan’s first Extraordinary Form Mass site, at Flint’s All Saints Church. He began in the days before the Internet, before young priests embraced liturgical tradition. Ted had the most challenging of assignments, that of finding priest celebrants, which often ended up costing him last-minute airfare to fly in priests from the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter and elsewhere to offer Holy Mass for his community. Ted was behind the annual Anniversary Mass, always a big production that often involved a bishop. Fittingly, a Funeral Mass in the Extraordinary Form was offered for Ted on Saturday, July 16 at Flint’s St. Matthew Church.

In the continuing drama following Robert Cardinal Sarah’s speech recommending that priests consider celebrating some of their Ordinary Form Masses ad oriéntem beginning on the First Sunday of Advent, Bishop Arthur Serratelli, Chairman of the Committee on Divine Worship of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, on July 12 published a letter stating that celebrating versus pópulum remains the norm in most parishes the United States, and that consultation with one’s bishop is advisable before instituting celebration ad oriéntem. Unfortunately His Excellency cites the same mistranslated GIRM rubric that others have used as justification for restraining this option.

Two outcomes seem likely from this situation: 1) As younger clergy assume roles of leadership, ad oriéntem will gradually gain popularity, and 2) Priests who are concerned about political problems up and down the scale from parishioners to bishops will opt to celebrate the Extraordinary Form, the best and least politicized way to worship ad oriéntem.

Assumption Church Annual Reopening on August 14 and 15

For the second year since its closing in November, 2014, Windsor’s historic Assumption Church will reopen for visitation [as canonically required] on Sunday, August 14 from 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM, and on Monday, August 15, its titular Feast Day, from 12:00 Noon – 6:00 PM. Assumption was for many years the home of the St. Benedict Tridentine Community; its grand scale and lavish traditional architecture are ideal for the Extraordinary Form. No plans for its restoration have yet been announced; we ask that you keep the intention in your prayers that a viable means of saving this priceless church will be found.

[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@detroitlatinmass.org. Previous columns are available at http://www.detroitlatinmass.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Albertus (Detroit), Academy of the Sacred Heart (Bloomfield Hills), and St. Alphonsus and Holy Name of Mary Churches (Windsor) bulletin inserts for July 24, 2016. Hat tip to Alex Begin, author of the column.]